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U.S. decides to delist NK from group of terror-sponsoring nations: N. Korea
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's Foreign Ministry said Monday that the United States has decided to remove the communist country from its list of terror-sponsoring nations and make political and economic measures for "compensation," such as lifting a trade ban.
The decision was made at a working-level meeting between the two nations in Geneva over the weekend, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman was quoted as saying by the North's Korean Central News Agency.
"As a consequence, a foundation for making progress in the next round of six-party talks (on the North's nuclear ambitions) was paved, the spokesman said.
On Sunday, after ending his two-day talks with North Korean nuclear envoy Kim Kye-gwan, U.S Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said North Korea agreed to declare its nuclear stockpile and disable its atomic weapons programs by the end of this year.
On his part, Kim, the North's deputy foreign minister, said the U.S. confirmed once again that it will take the political and economic compensation measures it promised. But he refused to elaborate on what the measures are.
One of North Korea's demands is its removal from a U.S. list naming states that sponsor terrorism. The U.S. put Pyongyang on the list in 1988 after accusing the North's agents of blowing up a South Korean passenger plane, killing all 115 people aboard.
"At the (Kim-Hill) talks, the two sides discussed the next-stage goals to implement the Sept. 19 joint statement, and achieved a series of agreements," the North Korean spokesman said. Under the statement adopted at the six-nation talks in 2005, Pyongyang agreed in principle to give up its nuclear ambitions in return for economic aid and security guarantees. The North also promised to implement the September agreements in the Feb. 13 agreement.
The working meeting is part of the six-nation forum involving South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan.
The next round of six-party talks is expected to begin later this month. Pyongyang implemented the first phase by shutting down its key atomic facilities in accordance with the Feb. 13 agreement, which also requires the North to implement second-stage steps of coming clean with all of its nuclear programs and making them inoperable.
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